"65 years ago today, the US overthrew the popularly elected democratic
government of Dr. Mossadegh, restoring the dictatorship & subjugating Iranians
for the next 25 years. Now an "Action Group” dreams of doing the same through
pressure, misinformation & demagoguery. Never again,” Zarif said in a message
posted on his Twitter account on Sunday.
US State Department recently released a trove of confidential documents that
disclosed more details of Britain’s role in the 1953 coup in Iran, an issue
London strongly denied in the past.
On June 15, 2017, the US State Department released a long-awaited volume of
declassified US government documents on the 1953 coup in Iran.
The publication of the documents put an end to decades of internal debates and
public controversy after a previous official collection omitted all references
to the role of American and British spy agencies in the ouster of the legal
government of prime minister Mohammad Mosaddeq.
London had previously denied any role in the coup but the new evidence confirmed
Britain’s involvement in it.
In August 1953, the British and American intelligence agencies initiated a coup
by the Iranian military, setting off a series of events, including riots in the
streets of the capital, Tehran, which led to the overthrow and arrest of
Mosaddeq.
Mosaddeq, who was convicted of treason by a court martial, served three years in
solitary confinement and then died under house arrest in 1967.
His overthrow, which is still given as a reason for Iranians' mistrust of the UK
and the US, consolidated the Shah's rule for the following 26 years until the
victory of the Islamic Revolution in 1979, led by Imam Khomeini, which toppled
the US-backed monarchy.
The Iranian premier had played a key role in the country’s 1951 movement that
resulted in the nationalization of Iran’s oil industry, which had been mainly
controlled by the British-owned Anglo-Iranian Oil Company (AIOC), now known as
BP.
Experts say the 1953 coup, known as the 28 Mordad coup, was aimed at making sure
the Iranian monarchy would safeguard the West's oil interests in the country.
Source:Tasnim